After a wonderful 6 days in the tropical gardens of Ban Kruit YHA (thoroughly recommended!), we decided to indulge ourselves with a bit of luxury for a few days. That's not to say we hadn't experienced luxury......if a mosquito net and cold monsoon outside shower are not luxuries then the empty beach and quiet certainly is. We said goodbye to Lucky, our adopted dog for the week (Lucky would often sleep outside our bungalow waiting impatiently for us to wake up.....when we did, he would join us on our long walks along the beach).
We only moved about half a mile but were properly in the resort of Ban Kruit beach. We checked into a spa hotel for some lazing by the pool, amazing breakfasts and spa treatments for Sarah. To make up for all this indulgence, one day we decided to take the hotel bikes out for a ride south along the coast. With only one gear, minimal brakes and a basket with a number on the front, we must've looked like professional cyclists! The cycling seemed quite easy so we went miles through small fishing villages and beautiful countryside. We must've looked quite strange to the locals! We finally stopped for a cool drink before turning round to head back......what we hadn't noticed was that there had been a very slight downward incline on the way there, and the wind was also behind us. So we were cycling back uphill and into the wind. Suddenly our relaxing bike ride became a marathon expedition to get back to the hotel!
After a few days of luxury we decided to head a bit further north to Kui Buri to try to get to the national park there. We got off the train in Kui Buri, after a 3 hour delay (can you imagine the reaction on the Woking to London line??!), and started to wander aimlessly through the town looking for signs of a hotel. A very friendly Thai lady pulled over on her moped tuk-tuk and asked in good English where we were going. It turns out she was the local English teacher, and gave us a lift to a very nice, cheap hotel. There was no sign of how to get to the national park, no taxis and no buses. The next morning, we decided to ask the lady at the hotel reception how to get there. Whilst John was doing hand signals and drawing cartoon buses, a Thai man overheard the "conversation" and offered us a lift with him and his family to the national park, as they were headed there anyway.
Golf, the Thai man's nickname, drove us first to Khao Sam Roi Yot national park on the coast, past many shrimp farms. We hiked into the park over several steep hills, and with the help of a guide, ended up in a huge natural cavern where a small Buddhist temple had been built to honour a visit from one of the Thai kings. Golf and his family then insisted on buying us lunch as a wedding present, despite us wanting to buy them lunch for their hospitality! From this park, we headed to Kui Buri national park, our original destination, as there was the opportunity to see wild elephants there. When we finally found the park, we climbed into the back of one of the park ranger's pick-up trucks and they drove out to a place where one of the scouts had sighted some elephants. We saw 3 of them grazing in the grasslands! We also met David, from Basingstoke! Golf then drove us to the park headquarters, where we planned to camp but a ranger said that for 200 baht each (4 pounds), we could have beds in one of the bungalows. As it was dark, we had already been bitten by about 100 mozzies and having never pitched our tent in the dark, we decided to go with that option!
The next day, we went for a guided hike with one of the rangers through the jungle. Though we didn't see much wildlife, he was very knowledgeable, and despite the heat we really enjoyed it. That afternoon, we asked if we could go and see the elephants again, but we didn't have our own transport, and there were no rangers driving out that way. We decided to go for a walk instead so headed down the road out of the park through huge pineapple fields and little villages. We had bought 2 eggs to cook for breakfast the next day when two pick-ups came screeching round the corner and ground to a halt next to us. There were three rangers in the back and they asked if we wanted to go and see the elephants with them. Of course we said yes, and jumped in the back, breaking one of our eggs in the process! We then set-off at breakneck speed across pot-holed roads, and mud tracks to get to the elephant area before dark. When we arrived at a grassy expanse, the rangers signalled to us to be quiet and follow them into the bush, through grass as tall as Sarah! We came out into another opening, and there were 11 elephants happily grazing before us. We were told later that it was very unusual to be able to get that close to them. Amazing experience!
One of the rangers was American (Ron), and we got chatting to him later. He'd been researching elephants in SE Asia for 20 years. Because we had got a lift up to the national park, we had no idea how to get back to Kui Buri. We asked Ron if there were any trucks heading out of the park the next day and he said he'd see what he could do. We got a heads-up the next morning that a truck was leaving in 30mins so we decided to take the opportunity, not knowing when the next one would be. We chucked our packs and ourselves in the back of the pick-up and drove the 30Km back to Kui Buri. They dropped us at the railway station and Ron told us a train was leaving shortly for stations to the north. We decided to head to the tourist resort of Hua Hin for a few days.
We arrived in Hua Hin to a very different Thailand, packed with western tourists, Burger King and McDonalds. However, the noise, smells and traffic are most definitely those of a Thai town! We decided to crash here for a few days to soak up some sun, swim in the pool, and chill out. Actually, it has turned out to be quite easy to avoid the tourists by avoiding the beach. We've seen our first monkeys on a hike up the local mountain/hill and an assortment of mangy dogs. It was nice to get out of Hua Hin and the park at the top of the mountain was very peaceful. There was also a statue of King Rama 7th....little known fact, he died in 1941 at Virginia Water, Surrey ( 15 mins from home in Woking). On the walk back we came across a local market in the suburbs of Hua Hin, and one of the local delicacies was battered chickens feet. Having become super-brave with trying streetfood, and also having worked up an appetite on the hike, we decided to give it a go.......yum!
Having enjoyed Hua Hin more than we expected, we are now ready to move on, and tomorrow we get the overnight sleeper train to Chang Mai.
